The Unofficial Zack Warren Fan Club

by J. C. Isabella

  “Must have been our imaginations,” She murmured, leaving when Glenn called for her.

  “That was close.” I slouched against the bed.

  “Too close.” Zack grimaced. “We have to step it up.”

  “Great, just what we need, quality time together.” More torture, and yet, I was actually looking forward to it. This would provide the opportunity to get to know the real Zack Warren. Not the guy girls drooled over.

  “You and me, we’re going to be like this.” He held up his hand and crossed two fingers.

  I pinched the bridge of my nose, trying to wrap my head around it. “I didn’t think they suspected our dislike for each other.”

  “Clearly we aren’t the only ones acting.” His cool blue gaze sent shivers down my spine. Why me? Why did my mom have to fall for his dad? Of all the single men in the produce department, she goes for Glenn Warren and his easily sunburned head. “They probably heard us calling each other by our last names. It doesn’t sound very friendly. From now on we go by first names, maybe even make up nicknames if that doesn’t work.”

  “You’ve really thought a lot about this.”

  “Steal a base or wait for a homer.”

  “You’ve always been a stealer.” I grabbed a roller and picked up where I left off. Zack didn’t move.

  And then I realized I’d said too much.

  “You watch me play?”

  “Sometimes,” I admitted, trying to sound indifferent. “Lana, my friend, is dating the second baseman.”

  “Kyle Johnston, he’s a nice guy, good choice on her part.” I heard him moving behind me and focused on the wall. “What’s this?”

  I didn’t look at him. He was less than a foot away. “Huh?”

  “You have one box unopened.”

  “Oh, that’s my computer.” I dipped the roller into the tray and dabbed off excess. “I’m not sure what to do with it.”

  He laughed. “You plug it in and turn it on, Chloe.”

  I froze at the sound of my name.

  A feeling of absolute terror rushed though me, because I liked it too much.

  “Chloe?” Zack snapped his fingers. “Hello?”

  I shook my head. “Sorry, I was thinking. Um, I don’t know how to do the whole Internet thing. I don’t have cable in here, or a phone, so I wasn’t sure. Should I ask Glenn?”

  “No.” he said firmly, looking pleased. “I’ll do it.”

  “You will?”

  “Yeah, I’ll have the house wired by tomorrow night.”

  “To blow?”

  “Funny.” He let out a deep chuckle, making my knees knock. “My dad isn’t hopeless with the technical stuff, but I prefer to take care of it. I’ve got a router. We’ll go wireless.”

  “Good, my mom is computer illiterate. If anything bad happens we’re in serious trouble.”

  Uh, and surprise much…since when was Zack into computers? The girls never raved about his smarts. Nothing intellectual ever came out of their mouths. It was nice ass, great smile, and eyes like the summer sky on a spring day. They never swooned over Zack’s brains or witty remarks.

  Could it be that Zack had everyone fooled?

  Bad boy, baseball player, hot as hell…

  And smart?

  If he was so good at pretend, he should go into acting.

  Chapter 11

  It was getting close to sunset by the time we were finished. We dumped all the paint supplies into a big box and pushed it out in the hallway. I went to the bathroom to scrub the paint off my hands. Zack shot in after I was done, not giving me a look.

  I guess we were ignoring each other now.

  Even though I wanted to say something, I forced myself to go downstairs and found mom and Glenn in the living room admiring their handiwork. They’d put a gilded mirror over the fireplace and set up the TV and big blue sofas. I told them it looked cool and scooted out the front door before being pulled into a conversation about which pictures to hang where. I needed a few minutes to myself. A short walk seemed like a good way to accomplish that.

  I breathed in the steamy air left over from the afternoon. The sun was beginning to dip into a pinkish orange swirl in the sky, and cottony clouds stood out starkly against the candy hue.

  It was a relief, having quiet time to think, and I had a lot to think about. I was stuck, reliant on Zack. Which wasn’t a bad thing. Even if I did have a car, I wouldn’t feel comfortable making that drive by myself. All those crazy drivers, they scared the crap out of me. I’ve never actually driven over sixty miles per hour before. Part of me was scared I’d pop a tire or fly off the road. An irrational fear, except it felt real to me.

  I sighed, kicking at a pebble. Maybe it was time to turn back. I wasn’t at all familiar with the area, and I didn’t want to get too far from the house, or be alone in the dark without a flashlight. Stealing a look over my shoulder, I could barely see the white roof of my new home.

  Off to the side the trees were dense, dark. I couldn’t fathom why anyone would want to live so far from civilization. The few bare spots in the foliage let me see a creek or some sort of canal running parallel to my left. And there weren’t any streetlights like back home. It was never this quiet, so quiet I could hear the grass and the leaves rustle with the slightest breeze.

  The sound of engines revving stopped me.

  A pack of dirt bikes zoomed around a bend in the road toward me. There were five. The one in the front pulled away from the group and jerked up to ride on its back tire.

  “Hey!” He shouted, dropping onto his front wheel.

  I didn’t say anything. I was too busy trying to stay calm. He hit the brakes next to me, sending up a cloud of smoke and pulled off his helmet, revealing a head full of shaggy brown hair and a sunburned face. He was a little on the soft side, not fat, but not fit. There was something familiar about him too. “Hi, I’m Max McFarland.”

  “Chloe Baker.” I shook his hand, shrinking back from a sweaty palm.

  The rest of the group stopped. Two of the guys had girls on the backs of their bikes.

  “So, you bought the Millers place?” a blonde girl asked. She had her own electric blue bike.

  I nodded, not knowing who the Millers were. But ours was the only house up for sale that I knew about. “Yeah.”

  “We’re going to be late.” A guy on a black bike shouted. “Max, you coming?”

  “I’m cool.” He shouted back, not taking his eyes off me.

  The group took off down the road…leaving Max with me.

  I cringed when it got quiet again. “Where are they going?”

  “Not my business now.” There was something so familiar about him. I couldn’t figure out where I’d seen him before.

  “Do I know you?”

  “Yeah, we go to school together. I’m on the team with Zack.”

  “Oh, cool.” I didn’t recognize him without the Triton’s baseball cap. He never took it off.

  “Zack didn’t tell me his dad bought a house in my neighborhood. Wonder why…eh, whatever.”

  Max swiped the sweat from his upper lip on the back of his hand. It wasn’t that I thought sweat was gross. Just his sweat. He didn’t smell great either, kind of like sour socks and burnt rubber. My lips wanted to curl. I tried not to breathe through my nose.

  “Uh, I need to get home.” I said, edging away to suck in clean air.

  “I’ll walk you.” He pushed his bike between us. “What do you do for fun?”

  What kind of question was that? And did he ever shower? “I don’t know, normal stuff. The mall, movies—I take my dog to the park.”

  Only because he asked first, and I didn’t know what else to say to someone who was pretty much a complete stranger, I asked. “What do you guys do for fun around here?”

  “Ride bikes, go to the beach. Every couple months we take a weekend trip to Orlando, hit the theme parks.”

  “I don’t like theme parks.”

  He dangled his helmet off the handlebars, “I hit
the parks every chance I get. You’re missing out.”

  “I have a strict no theme parks policy.” It struck me a weird. You stand in lines and listen to children scream, sweating your brains out while eating food shaped like a whale or a mouse. It is a very controlled environment, despite what everyone tells you, and not the place dreams come true. You’re given a map, all but herded like sheep from attraction to attraction. You then find yourself waiting forty minutes to go on a ride that lasts two minutes. The guy sitting next to you, who can’t speak English, is wearing a fanny pack, and socks with his Velcro sandals in ninety-degree weather. “I can’t wrap my head around the reason why people think that is fun.”

  He grinned, patting the seat of his dirt bike. “You wanna go for a ride?”

  I’ve always wanted to go for a ride on a bike, but I didn’t know anything about Max, except that he played baseball with Zack. I wasn’t the kind of girl to trust so easy. Besides, being any closer to him would activate my gag reflex. He needed a shower. No, more like a bleach. “I’ll pass, thanks.”

  “Come on,” his green eyes pleaded. “I don’t have a girlfriend, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

  “Whether you are single or not doesn’t bother me.” It was the smell, and I couldn’t imagine wrapping my arms around his sweaty middle.

  “Do you have a guy who wouldn’t like the idea of you going for a spin?”

  Max was cute in is own way, but not my type. I had a feeling he’d have his tongue down my throat before date one, if I let him.

  “Yes, I do have a guy.” I lied, thinking of Zack. He’d probably go bonkers if I went on a motorcycle ride.

  “Is it serious?”

  “Yep, and he’d hate me riding with you, no offence.”

  “None taken, honey.” He glanced around us and wagged his eyebrows. I wanted to smack him for calling me honey. “Except your stuffy boyfriend isn’t here, is he?”

  “No, but he’s not far.”

  Max raised his eyebrows. “Oh, does he go to our school?”

  “Maybe.” Crap, I couldn’t make someone up. He’d know I was lying.

  “I think he’s on the team with me.” His expression turned contemplative. I bet he was going through the roster in his head, trying to place me with someone.

  I gulped. “Could be.”

  I think I’m a pretty tolerant person. I get along with all types. But I don’t like guys who encourage girls to cheat on their boyfriends, even if the boyfriend is a fake. In my book, pretend boys counted just as much as the real ones.

  Max tipped his head back and laughed, “I get it. You’re scared.”

  “I’m not scared.” I said, walking faster, wanting to be rid of him, but also feeling comfort from the headlamp on his bike that lit the road.

  He made clucking sounds. This guy didn’t know me, and already he was calling me chicken! “What could happen, baby?”

  “Baby?” I was about to tell him to take his smelly ass for a hike and deal with the dark, when the bright lights of an oncoming car filled the road.

  “Here comes the Beast. Looks like your boyfriend is going to break up our private party.” Max was practically drooling over the red truck headed right for us.

  “Perfect,” I muttered. I’d just allowed one of the guys on the baseball team to think I’m dating Zack Warren, my stepbrother. Could my life be anymore complicated?

  Chapter 12

  Zack

  One minute Chloe and I were hitting it off, and I was working up my nerve to ask if she wanted to go to the movies, then she disappeared.

  I went downstairs. She wasn’t there. Molly asked me if I’d seen her. I said no, and noticed Chloe’s cell phone on the kitchen table. My dad joined the conversation, mentioned seeing Chloe slip out the front door.

  Molly was worried. Hand wringing, lip-biting worry that was bound to freak out my dad, so I grabbed my keys and took off to find Chloe. It was getting dark. Considering she slept with a nightlight, I didn’t think she’d like being outside for too much longer.

  It didn’t take much effort to find her, considering Chloe tended to attract attention. And by attention, I meant the ass wipe pushing a muddy dirt bike next to her.

  How in the hell did she manage to run into Max out here?

  I knew he lived nearby, but I made sure to not to tell him where I was moving. Mostly because I didn’t want him to park his ass at the house, stink the place up. And I saw red every time he looked at Chloe.

  I pulled off to the side of the road. Before my feet touched asphalt, Chloe bounded up to greet me. She beamed at me.

  Beamed, like she was excited, to see me.

  If Max had touched her, I’d break his nose…or his arm.

  Either one would satisfy me immensely.

  I leaned against the door, all calm and cool on the outside, raising an eyebrow at such an enthusiastic greeting from her. “I’ve been looking all over for you, Chloe. Molly is going crazy because you left your phone.”

  She stepped even closer. Our shoes were almost touching. “Sorry, I got held up by some people from town.”

  I surveyed the area around us, wondering what she meant, still confused by her welcoming behavior. “People, as in, plural?”

  “Yep, the rest of them left.”

  “I was making sure she got home safe.” Max supplied.

  I eyed him. “I bet.”

  Chloe turned so she was standing next to me, facing Max. She crossed her arms. Bad body language. She was shutting down, ready to head home by the looks of it. She probably would have been happy to see anyone. So it wasn’t me that made her act that way, just the prospect of getting out of the dark.

  “I’m surprised you let pretty Chloe out of your sight. It’s not safe at night if you aren’t familiar with the area.” Max winked at her.

  “I’ll be sure to keep a closer eye on her.” I said.

  “It was nice walking with you, Max.” Chloe lunged for the truck.

  I’d never seen her move so fast. Apparently Max didn’t strike her fancy. Fine by me. I grabbed her waist and gave her a boost so she didn’t fall back on the pavement. The truck was pretty high off the ground.

  “Yeah,” He sounded put out, then said to me, “she ever wants to walk at night again, Zack, I’ll have no problem taking her off your hands.”

  Chloe gasped and I laughed. Did he forget our talk? The one were I where I threatened to maim him if he went anywhere near her? I faced him. “Really?”

  “Sure.” He said. I caught a whiff of him on the wind and pursed my lips.

  Wow.

  And I don’t mean that in a good way.

  I shook my head and got into the truck, slamming the door in Max’s face. The cab felt very small all of a sudden. Chloe sat right next to me. She hadn’t slid all the way over yet. I leaned out the open window. “Thanks for the offer, but you haven’t got a snowball’s chance in hell of getting any closer to Chloe.”

  I peeled rubber and turned us around, speeding down the street, away from Max.

  “How do you know him?” I tried to keep my voice level and clam. I couldn’t see Chloe’s face hidden in the darkened cab. Wasn’t sure I wanted to see her expression after implying Max didn’t have a chance with her. Would she be happy? Or pissed that I’d assumed?

  “We just met. He was being too friendly, maybe because you guys are friends or something.”

  “Chloe, Max and I are not friends. I want nothing to do with that bastard.”

  “He doesn’t seem like someone you’d hang out with.”

  “Got that right. What did he want?”

  “At first he was just walking with me, I guess so I wouldn’t be alone. But he was too friendly. So I told him I had a boyfriend.”

  “You made up a guy?” The relief I felt was insane. It hit me hard, right in the gut, like someone tried to knock the wind out of me.

  “Yeah.”

  “Good.” I relaxed into the seat, but she was stiff and strait as a board beside me
. “What’s wrong?”

  “Max assumed you were him.”

  “Him who? Your boyfriend?”

  “Yep,” she laughed nervously.

  I cussed every word in the book, and then said a few words she probably never heard before. “Great, so not only am I your stepbrother, I’m now your boyfriend?”

  “He assumed!” She argued. “How was I supposed to know you’d round the corner at the precise time I was trying to tell him off?”

  “Do you always make up boyfriends when a guy is interested in you?”

  “No, this was a first.” She laughed again, but there was no humor in her voice. “Max had the nerve to call me chicken because I wouldn’t go for a ride on his bike. I don’t even know him. Ugh, and he smelled awful.”

  I cracked my knuckles against the steering wheel, wondering what our parents would do if they thought if Chloe and I were together.

  Put us on opposite ends of the house when we came home from school?

  Because there was this overwhelming need in me to stake a claim, mark my territory. Be the caveman. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could suppress it.